I would take on the world
by x-menobsessed26
Summary: Jean loves Bobby, but she doesn't think they can be together. AU. Pre-X2. One-shot.


In love with a student.

It's unthinkable. It's immoral. It's the type of act the public expects of a mutant.

Fortunately, no one except Jean Grey herself knew how in love she was with her 17-year-old student, Robert Drake.

The public wouldn't hate her just for the fact she was a mutant (even though he was too) or that he was underage or that he was her student. They would also hate her for cheating on her boyfriend, Scott Summers, whom she knew the media would convenietly forget to tell the world was also a mutant when they remembered to spill the tale of his great heartbreak and sorrow.

It wasn't as if she didn't love Scott. She did. He was her best friend and frequently her partner in crime, but she wasn't in love with him. She was in love with Bobby.

Jean was sitting at her desk, supposedly grading papers to the best of the knowledge of the student body. Their best knowledge wasn't the correct knowledge. Jean was indirectly staring at him, thinking he was the most perfect being she had ever laid her eyes on. Bobby was like Scott, but with a bigger heart. Life had dealt it's share of bad hands on Bobby, but not like they had on Scott, making Scott harder and more cold toward people.

Besides all of that, Jean knew Scott had never been in love with her. Their relationship had only been a matter of image, to provide the mutant population an example of two being in love. Scott had always been in love with Ororo, but he had never been able to say as much to her, feeling much more comfortable around his best friend : Jean Grey.

The bell for the end of class rang, announcing the end of the class and the school day. The students and Jean gathered their stuff and left the classroom behind in a flurry of laughs and shouts from Jean to 'be careful'. She sighed and shook her head with a smile as she walked down to the garden, a frequent study spot for both students and teachers.

The flowers bloomed around her in a wave of bright colors and cloud of sweet fragrance as she walked around them as they were built up on hedges two feet taller than herself. Jean was headed toward her favorite secluded spot in the maze of vegetation when the sight she saw nearly stopped her heart.

Scott and Ororo were in the middle of a rather heated make-out session, not taking any notice to her presence. It wasn't as if she felt too betrayed, as neither had truly been in love, but it still stung to know he had no qualms about leaving her.

After a moment, they broke apart, gasping for air, and happened to see her form standing there. The look in her eyes must have translated as heartbreak because both parties instantly looked like they hadn't just stolen a cookie, but they had taken the entire cookie jar.

She didn't stick around to have to tell them that she didn't really love Scott. He would figure it out on his own, if he didn't already know. Jean ran.

She ran until she got to the pier she had spent countless nights laying out underneath the stars on. She loved the smell of the water in the air from the lake, and the feel of the damp wood underneath her body. Tears crawled down her face, though she didn't know why. She really wasn't hurt. She wasn't!

That's what she kept telling herself as she pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around her legs, and rocked back and forth. Her sense of time didn't work as well as it probably should have at that moment, so she had absolutely no idea how long she, a 26-year-old doctor, sat rocking herself to keep from sobbing her heart out.

When a pair of strong arms held her, she jumped at the sudden contact, but relaxed with the realization that they wouldn't hurt her. Whoever it was lessened Jean's grip on herself, and pulled the woman to their chest, kissing her forehead and murmuring words of comfort.

When she opened her eyes after calming down and drying her cheeks, the eyes that met hers were a gorgeous blue that belonged to Bobby Drake. Her surprise must have been extremely obvious for he bent his head down and captured her lips in his before she could protest.

She melted into that kiss, never wanting it to end. Jean gripped his brown hair with an intensity that equaled that of his grip on her. Their gentle kiss increased to one not unlike the kiss Scott and Ororo had been caught up in earlier.

Bobby laid her out on the pier, allowing him to lay over her and kiss her more deeply. Her heart raced. None of the kisses she had ever received in her life had been ever close to the one she now had. Tongues met and hands explored as they continued their adventure into a passion both had been wanting for a long time.

When the sun set and blanketed the couple in the cool darkness of the night, their heated kisses became heartfelt nudges and kisses on noses and cheeks. Jean buried her head into his chest, breathing his scent in deeply as his arms tightened around her.

"You know...we'll have to go in eventually, right?" Bobby asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I just..."

She couldn't finish for it would mean an outcome neither party would particularly enjoy. Jean sat up and tried not to let tears fill her brown eyes again. Bobby sat up with her, cupped her chin, and kissed her again.

He took her face in his hands and laid his forehead against hers, "I know we can't be together now, but maybe...after high school..."

Jean shook her head as much as she could in his grip, "People would still talk."

"I don't care," he growled, though not at her. "I want you. I love you. I have for a long time. I need you in my life, Jean."

Jean sighed, "What about Marie?"

"You mean the Marie who thought she would tell me this afternoon she was running away to follow John, her true love?"

She brushed his hands away and crawled into his embrace again, laying her head on his chest. He locked her head under his by placing his chin on top of hers, leaving her to smile knowing he was serious, "I'm sure something can be figured out, love. I just don't want you to end up regretting anything or have the repercussions much more than you can handle."

"If I have you, I can take on the world."

She hoped he was right.

**Reviews are always appreciated!**


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